Blog Posts


Dylann's Killers Take Aim

I can’t say I am surprised by Dylann Roof’s decision to conduct his own defense. What, really, has he to lose?
Mr. Roof is standing trial in a South Carolina federal court, accused of 33 crimes — ranging from murder to obstruction of religion to firearms charges and to hate...

Mopery In New Haven

Just why anyone would want to be a police officer in this day and age is beyond me. And why any current officer would want to lead a police department is an even greater mystery.
Consider the case of Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova, who was the target of a snarky press...

Happy Thanksgiving, Maslow Said

By the time you read this, you will most likely have done all the shopping and planning you need to do to celebrate Thanksgiving. Comes now the assembling of family and friends around a table to share the holiday meal. Today is a day we come together to give thanks.
For what?, you ask, in...

Steve Bannon and Identity Politics

Here’s the good news: President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Steve Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor might just make it possible to start having an honest discussion about race in the United States.
The bad news? Progressives may not want...

Why Trump Made Sense in 2016

The website for information on how to migrate to Canada crashed Tuesday night; it was apparently overwhelmed by the amount of traffic. I suspect that was about the time folks began to realize that Donald Trump was on his way to becoming the 45th president of the United States. Trump’s victory...

Remembering Wrigley Field

Baseball and I have a tortured history. I found something like redemption and hope in the game as a child. Then time eroded the childlike perception that miracles were possible. Efforts to rekindle the romance with the game fluttered and died in adulthood.
But I was born in Chicago, you see,...

2016: The Ironing Board Versus The Blowhard

Trial lawyers know a thing or two about the art of persuasion. We make our living, after all, pitching stories to strangers. In that regard, we are much like politicians. But the similarity between jurors and voters is superficial. The 2016 presidential campaign proves it, and last...

The Prosaic Reality of Plea Bargaining

“No man is a hero to his valet,” an old proverb has it. I think of it often when making a difficult recommendation to a client. Folks want their lawyers to be heroes. Sometimes lawyers are able to fulfill that role; more often, especially in the context of criminal plea-bargaining,...

The Race Card Rears Its Head Again

Judges, despite their robes and the trappings of majesty — who else enters their workplace to the sound of a uniformed lawman commanding “All rise”? — are just like the rest of us. They are often motivated by high i­deals, but, being spun from the same mortal clay as we...

Transparency in Plea Bargaining? LOL

Connecticut Chief Justice Chase Rogers believes in committees; she also believes in transparency. So I was curious to see what her committee of judges and journalists was all about. I accepted the invitation to speak to the committee about the pros and cons of plea-bargaining with...

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